Getting Started for Site Owners

Creating and managing Medallions is easy

There are just a few quick and easy steps to setting up your Medallion on your site so your visitors can start supporting your site with Kachingle contributions. Here's what you'll find on this page:

  How the Medallion works  —  What visitors will see when kachingling your site
  Creating a Medallion  —  Quick, easy steps adding Kachingle to your site
  Placement of the Medallion  —  Suggestions for maximum Medallion visibility
  Launching & Marketing your Medallion  —  Introducing your visitors to the concept of Kachingle
  Getting Paid  —  How Kachingle pays Site Owners
  Using the Sites I Own tab  —  Managing Medallions, monitoring payments and statistics

If you don't find the answers you need here, please feel free to...

Browse the Sites I Own FAQ — to see answers to common questions from new Site Owners

Browse the Payments FAQ — to learn more about Pay-Ins, Payments, and Pay-Outs

Ask a Question — in our Community Forum staffed by the Kachingle Team

Email Customer Care — if your question requires privacy or you don't want to join the Community

(Community Forums are hosted by GetSatisfaction.com and may require separate login)

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How the Medallion works

The Medallion is a small Kachingle widget created by javascript code you place on the pages of your site. To see one in action, visit the Kachingle Corporate Blog.

Through the Medallion, Kachinglers can become ongoing contributors to your site with a single click.

Once they click, the Medallion coin turns green — which means your Medallion will now count their visits whenever they return. At the end of each month, the money they Pay-In to their Kachingle account will get distributed proportionally among the sites they kachingle — including yours — based on the frequency of their visits.

(FAQ: How are Kachingler's visits calculated and turned into Payments to my sites?)

Visitors to your site who are not yet Kachinglers can sign up for Kachingle through the Medallion as well.

And when visitors mouse-over the Medallion, they will see additional options, including the opportunity to see who else is kachingling to your site and to learn about your Kachinglers.

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Creating a Kachingle Medallion for your site (in four easy steps)

STEP ONE
When logged into your Kachingle Account, click the Site I Own tab, then click the "Add Site" button.

(Or click here to create a Medallion now)

STEP TWO
You will be taken to a form where you fill in information about your site, information for your PayPal payments, and upload a site logo.

When you're done, and click Save and Continue.



STEP THREE
Next you'll be taken to a page where you can generate your Medallion code based on the format of your site, and read instructions for how to add that code to your pages.

(See the next section, Placement of the Medallion, for suggestions on how to provide the best exposure for your Medallion.)

(FAQ: Can I put the Medallion on any type of site I control?)

STEP FOUR
Once you've posted the Medallion code to your site, just click the Verify button to confirm the Medallion is working correctly.

Now you're ready to start introducing your visitors to Kachingle as a way to support your site! See Launching & Marketing your Medallion below.

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Placement of the Medallion

If your site is built on a blogging platform (like Blogger, Wordpress or TypePad), the tools described above will help you create a widget and park it at the top of your sidebar.

If you have more flexibility and control of your own layout, Kachingle recommends placing the Medallion high on each page ("above the fold") in a conspicuous spot to draw Kachinglers' attention. (First we recommend you experiment a little - see Launching & Marketing your Medallion below.)

The Medallion is 234x60 in its closed state and expands in a layer over existing content in its open state, so you don't have to accommodate for its expansion in your layout.

(FAQ: What are the specs of the Kachingle Medallion?)

For maximum exposure, and to make sure every contributor's visits are counted no matter how they enter your site, we recommend the Medallion be included on every page. And because Kachingle is a whole new concept in crowdfunding, we recommend not grouping the Medallion with advertisements, lest it be mistaken for one.

Suggested locations include...
- In it own module at the top of a sidebar
- Opposite your logo at the top of the page
- Adjacent to headlines on permanent pages
- Textwrapped near the bylines of permanent articles
- Near primary navigation links

Do not place the Medallion...
- Inside a blog post that will move when new posts are created
- "Below the fold"
- At the bottom of a page

If you have other suggestions you'd like to share, or would like to see what other Site Owners have done with their Medallions, visit our MEDALLIONS: marketing, promotion and placement ideas forum.

DIFFERENT MEDALLIONS FOR DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF YOUR SITE?

Some Site Owners may be interested in creating independent Medallions to place on different sections of their sites, instead of using the same Medallion code site-wide.

Why? Let's say your site has a dozen blogs on wildly different subjects, written by different bloggers. You may want to offer Kachinglers the opportunity to support each blog separately. We call this Narrow Scope, because it allows you to follow your Kachinglers' support of your content more closely.

Narrow Scope

The Narrow Scope advantage is that it could potentially generate more revenue. When each blog has a separate Medallion, a Kachingler who reads multiple blogs is counted separately by each one — and could end up contributing to each one independently, meaning multiple streams of revenue from each Kachingler.

A possible disadvantage is that a Kachingler must "turn kachingling on" individually for each blog, and this may require specialized marketing of your Medallions to your visitors.

Wide Scope

Having one Medallion (placing the same Medallion code on every page) we call Wide Scope. The advantage of this approach is that Kachinglers only have to choose to kachingle your site one time, from any Medallion on your site — then anytime they visit any page with a Medallion, their visit will be counted toward their contribution.

How to decide

If you're considering both approaches, the question to ask yourself is this: Does the typical reader on my site consider its blogs (or sections) to be part of a group, or distinctly separate? A good example of the latter might be the highly-read blog of a famous newspaper (and TV) film critic, which may be read mostly by out-of-towners who have no interest in the rest of that newspaper's site.

Would your Kachinglers want their Kachingle profile show they're supporting your site as a whole, or would they consider themselves supporting some more specialized content? That distinction may help guide your decision between the Narrow Scope and Wide Scope approach to your Medallions.

Keep in mind there is no limit to the number of Medallions you can manage from Sites I Own, and that each Medallion can even have it's own separate PayPal account. (This makes accounting very easy if you are intending to distribute some or all of the funds to individual bloggers.)

If you have other suggestions you'd like to share, or would like to see what other Site Owners have done with their Medallions, visit our MEDALLIONS: marketing, promotion and placement ideas forum.

If you'd like more help, you can Ask a Question — in our Community Forum staffed by the Kachingle Team



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Launching & Marketing your Medallion (in five stages)

STAGE ONE - experiment for a week

For the first week we recommend putting your Medallion in an obscure place on your site, so you can experiment without most readers stumbling upon it.

Become a Kachingler of your own site, and ask some trusted colleagues, friends or family to sign up as Kachinglers and start kachingling your site too. This way, before launching the Medallion site-wide you can learn more about it, the features it offers Kachinglers, and how the counting of Kachinglers' visits is tracked in the Sites I Own page of your Kachingle account.

If you have questions check the FAQ or visit our MEDALLIONS: marketing, promotion and placement ideas forum.

If you'd like more help, you can Ask a Question in our Community Forum staffed by the Kachingle Team.


STAGE TWO - start marketing Kachingle to your regular visitors

Once you have experimented enough to feel comfortable with the Medallion, its features, and how it counts Kachinglers visits and tracks them in your Sites I Own page, it's time to begin marketing the Kachingle Medallion to your user base.

As a permanent part of your Medallion display, we recommend adding some simple text in a small font above or below the Medallion to encourage kachingling, for example:

Regular reader? Kachingle is a simple way
to support my blog and other sites you love
To introduce the Medallion to your users, we recommend posting a high-profile, home-page-anchored feature article or blog announcing the launch of your Kachingle Medallion, explaining how it works and the concept of crowdfunding, and inviting your readership to join Kachingle to help support your site (and other sites they love).

Here are concepts you may want to include in your announcement to help readers grasp the concept of Kachingle, crowdfunding, and micropayments. Feel free to borrow those that best suit your publication's profile and needs. You may also want to visit our FAQ and About pages for more ideas and wording.

KACHINGLE, CROWDFUNDING & MICROPAYMENTS

- Kachingle is an effortless way to support your favorite sites, online publications, and blogs just by visiting those sites after becoming a Kachingler.

- Kachingle is simple, user-centric and user-controlled alternative to cumbersome subscriptions, paywalls, and pay-per-article plans some media outlets are considering forcing upon their readers.

- Kachingling requires virtually no effort on the part of the Kachingler — just click the Medallion on sites you want to support. No credit cards, passwords, etc.

- As a Kachingler, you choose the sites you want to support. When you surf the Web click on any Kachingle Medallion on a site you want to support — just once — and Kachingle will keep track of your visits.

- At the end of each month, your monthly Pay-In to Kachingle ($5 to start, but other options will be available soon) will be distributed proportionally among your chosen sites based on your visits.

REASONS FOR BECOMING A KACHINGLER

- Help support journalism's future online.

- Help support a site whose writers are underpaid or have been working as a labor of love.

- Help support a specialized reporting that takes time and money to produce (e.g. highly localized news or investigative reporting).

- Help support sites that provide a free service.

- If enough readers become Kachinglers for your site, their support will help the site grow and improve.

- Share your support with colleagues, friends, and family (and soon Twitter followers and others), and turn them on to the sites you visit.

- Kachingle provided an opportunity to get recognition for supporting your favorite sites and sharing that support through social networking — every Medallion includes a "See who's kachingling this site" link that displays all the site's kachinglers.

- Build an online persona around your Kachingle contributions.

- For each site you support, you can choose how your name will appear, for example, if you have a nickname on that site you'd like to use. (You can also kachingle anonymously if you choose.)

- And do all this on your own terms, and without having to have to support each site though separate means.

(FAQ: Won't some of these concepts encourage my Kachinglers to contribute to sites other than my own?)

If you have ideas you'd like to share, or would like to ask how other Site Owners have marketed their Medallions, visit our MEDALLIONS: marketing, promotion and placement ideas forum.

If you'd like more help, you can Ask a Question in our Community Forum staffed by the Kachingle Team.


STAGE THREE - social promotion of early adopters

As Kachinglers start signing up and supporting your site, write additional features or blogs highlighting (perhaps even interviewing!) your loyal visitors who have become your Kachinglers, as a way of encouraging others to follow suit.

Use the "See who's kachingling this site" feature on your Medallion to see your Kachinglers, or visit your Sites I Own page in your Kachingle account and click the "View Kachinglers" link.

You can also encourage your visitors to become Kachinglers by showing off your own kachingling. In your articles promoting your Medallion, include links to your staff's own Sites I Visit pages on Kachingle.


STAGE FOUR - ongoing marketing of your Medallion

On a regular basis, continue to highlight (in a blog post or a sidebar) Kachinglers who have made contributions to your site. While everyone who visits your blog can see all your Kachinglers by clicking "See who's kachingling this site" in the Medallion, it helps to regularly thank your Kachinglers for their contributions that help you continue to deliver the content they value.


STAGE FIVE - periodic re-launch of the Kachingle Medallion concept for new users

From time to time, repeat Step 2 to attract new visitors to the concept of Kachingling to support your site, and to remind those readers who have not signed up for Kachingle, or who have not yet kachingled your site, that you are counting on them to help support the hard work that goes into producing your content.

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Getting Paid

Here's how Kachinglers' Pay-Ins (their monthly deposits) become Payments to your site (based on their visits), which become Pay-Outs (Kachingle sending money to your PayPal account):

[1] Each Kachingler makes a monthly Pay-In (hardwired at $5 for now, but flexibility is coming soon!).

[2] At the end of each Kachingler's month, their Pay-In is distributed among the sites they've kachingled in proportional Payments based on Daily Visits.

[3] The Payments from your site's Kachinglers show up the Current Balance shown next to each Medallion on your Sites I Own page.

[4] At the end of each month for your Medallion (based on the date it was created), Kachingle checks that balance, and if it's over $100, a Pay-Out is processed, transferring the balance to your PayPal account.

[5] If at the end of a given month, your Medallion balance hasn't reached the $100.00 threshold, that balance will roll to the next month until the threshold is reached.

(FAQ: What fees does Kachingle collect before my Pay-Out is calculated?)

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Using the Sites I Own tab

When you visit your Sites I Own tab, you can manage your Medallions, track all your Kachinglers, and see a history of your payments (with more detailed statistics coming soon). Here's how it works:



[1] - Tabs

Sites I Visit is where you can view and manage your own kachingling history and contributions to other sites.

Sites I Own (shown here) is where you can manage your Medallions, and view contributors and payments (with more statistics coming soon).

All Sites is where you can browse every site with a Kachingle Medallion or search for sites to Kachingle by keyword.

[2] - Add Site

Click "Add Site" to create a new Medallion for a site you own — or for another section of your site if you want to keep contributions separated by section, blogger, etc.

[3] - Site name and logo

Click on the logo to be taken to the site itself.

Click on the name to be taken to a Kachingle page describing the site and listing all the Kachinglers that support it.

[4] - Manage button

Click the Manage button to change or update the information you entered for this site when you created the Medallion: name, URL, description, email address, PayPal address, or logo.

[5] - URL, Medallion#, Status and Description

This area shows the Medallion Number and information you entered when you created (or updated) this Medallion. The Status shows whether you successfully tested the Medallion in the last stage of the setup process.

[6] - Kachingling statistics

This box shows the kachingling history for this site:
Kachinglers - the total number of contributors to your site
Total Pay-Outs - contributions Kachingle has already paid to you
Current Balance - contributions accumulated but not yet paid

This box also includes links to the data from your Medallion:
View Kachinglers - see stats on all your site's contributors
View Pay-Out History - see a history of your payments from Kachingle
View Statistics - (coming soon!) see charts on your daily visits by contributors and daily contributions collected

[7] - Sort options

Here you can choose how your kachingling history is listed on this page.

[8] - Profile

This box displays your own Kachingler profile information, and includes a link to Edit Settings, like your avatar, Display Name, etc.
(You can also edit your profile from the Settings link at the top of any Kachingle page.)

Still have questions about earning money with a Kachingle Medallion?

Browse the Sites I Own FAQ — to see answers to common questions from Site Owners

Ask a Question — in our Community Forum staffed by the Kachingle Team

Email Customer Care — if your question requires privacy or you don't want to join the Community

(Community Forums are hosted by GetSatisfaction.com and may require separate login)